To the Editor

To The Editor-

I was disappointed to see the haste with which Gov. Schwarzenegger announced that he would veto legislation to make marriage in California gender neutral, but I was more appalled by his reasoning.

The governor would like us to believe that he is exercising his veto out of some heroic deference to the will of the people, as voiced in a ballot initiative in 2000. While the initiative process is an important part of California politics, at our core we remain a representative democracy. Since 2000, we have seen successful legal challenges to gender specific marriage laws in other states, and have even seen homosexual marriages here in San Francisco. It is folly to assume that people in California may not have changed their views in that time.

Every senator or assemblyperson who voted for AB 849 has faced election at least once since 2000. These are our leaders, and they must be allowed to lead. To veto this legislation is Gov. Schwarzenegger’s prerogative, but we deserve a debate, or a least a reason – not just a reflexive and politically attractive stance.

Joel

-- This is the text of a Letter to the Editor I wrote after Gov. Schwarzenegger promised to veto the legislation making marriage in CA gender neutral. I sent it to my Dad for editing (Thanks, Pop!), but by the next day I think The Chronicle had moved on to another topic. So I thought I'd publish it here. I have a lot of other arguments as to why his is a bogus decision, but I just scrolled my blog, and DAMN am I verbose.